


now you shall be real to everyone

by silversilky



Category: RWBY
Genre: Coming Out, Friendship, Gen, Lesbian Character, Trans Female Character
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-03-18
Updated: 2016-03-18
Packaged: 2018-05-27 13:28:32
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 796
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6286537
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/silversilky/pseuds/silversilky
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Velvet is a trans girl, and it's time for her to finally let CFY know.</p>
            </blockquote>





	now you shall be real to everyone

Velvet could feel her hands trembling as she stood in front of the door. No matter how much she'd rehearsed this, there was no way to completely exorcise the fear at the back of her mind. She clasped her hands together to calm herself and the unconscious movement simply shifted to her ears, which began twitching.

What would they think of her? Would they not care what she said and refuse to change how they saw her, or would they care too much and make her leave them and switch teams? Velvet knew they were all good people, but there was no way to know what the outcome of this would be.

She gave up and took the first step forward. Entering the dorm room she shared with her three best friends, she was met with their questioning faces.

"What's up?" asked Coco. Then she used a word that Velvet recognized as her birth name. It felt like a dull impact, but she didn't hold it against her friend. She didn't know that Velvet hadn't called herself that in months.

That was the point of this, to let them know what she'd taken so long to discover about herself. It wasn't as if she was still trying to figure things out, she knew for sure, or she wouldn't be here. But she still hadn't even said it out loud yet.

Velvet cleared her throat. "I... want to tell you all something. I know it's probably going to be a shock but I've been thinking about this for a long time and can't keep it in any longer."

Fox raised his hand. "You're gay?"

Velvet paused as the other two members of her team looked back and forth between her and Fox with identical confused expressions. "Well, yes, but not in the way that you think, and that's not what... Ok, let me start over."

She took a deep breath and finally said it. "I'm transgender. I'm a girl."

The room fell silent, and Velvet could feel her rapid heartbeat in her chest.

"Wait, I thought you were already a girl?" Fox said unexpectedly. "Your name's pretty neutral, and that's the vibe I've always gotten from you. Nobody ever said otherwise so I just assumed you were one. I guess I was right, then?"

Coco twisted to face him. "So that's why you said 'she' that one time! I thought I misheard you."

Velvet had no idea what to say to that, but she felt a sudden rush of some unknown emotion at the revelation that her friend had always seen her the way she really was.

Yatsuhashi had remained quiet as usual, but now he stood from the bed and walked across the room to tower over the tiny Faunus. She stared up at him, not sure what was happening, before he enveloped her in a tight hug.

Surrounded by her huge friend's warmth, Velvet felt the corners of her eyes prickle and she buried her face in Yatsuhashi's chest. As he hugged her, Yatsuhashi turned towards Fox. "I am a boy. Just to make it clear."

Velvet couldn't stop herself from laughing at Fox's groan.

When Yatsuhashi released her, she was faced by Coco again, and froze. Their team leader was grinning ear to ear with stars in her eyes. "Uh... Coco?"

"I'm not on a team with three dudes!" Coco seemed overjoyed. "It gets so tiring having to be around only guys all the time. It never really felt that way when I was with you, though, and now I know why."

Yatsuhashi and Fox didn't seem too offended, but Velvet felt a little bad for them. Coco grabbed Velvet by the shoulders and switched to a deadly serious tone. "If you're interested, I can show you all the best clothing shops in Vale."

Velvet smiled at her friend's enthusiasm. "I don't think I'm ready for that yet, but maybe sometime later."

"Whenever you feel up to it, I'll be here." Coco seemed to realize something. "Wait, you said before that you're gay too? As in, attracted to girls?"

"Yeah. I wasn't ever confused about that part." Velvet blushed slightly.

She could see the gears in Coco's head turn before her leader looked at her again with an unfamiliar expression. "Huh. I'll have to remember that."

Before she could ask what Coco meant by that, Fox spoke again. "Should we change what name we all call you?"

Velvet gently pulled on one ear nervously. "Um, yes, I actually picked out a new name a while ago." Her teammates looked at her, waiting. Seeing their faces and realizing they genuinely cared about her and what she was about to say, Velvet realized her hands and ears weren't shaking anymore, and she smiled.

"Call me Velvet."


End file.
